NASA has been quietly working on a Mars rover concept that looks like a Batmobile

The visitor complex at NASA's Kennedy Space Center has
quietly rolled out a six-wheeled Mars rover.

The vehicle was made by a concept car company and
debuted in early May.

A major cable network is allegedly producing a TV show
about the unnamed vehicle's design and construction.

Though it's a demonstration vehicle for educational
use, it was created to be as realistic as possible.

Since late 2016, NASA's privately-run Kennedy Space Center
Visitor Complex, an unnamed cable television network, and a
company that builds concept vehicles have been quietly
collaborating to build a full-size rover for
exploring Mars.

Video and images of the completed vehicle started appearing on
social media sites on May 9, following an official unveiling of
the unnamed rover in Florida that day.

One clip shared on Instagram shows the rover, which resembles the
Batmobile from the
movie "Batman Begins," slowly idling around a road in front of
the complex:

Marc Parker, a designer and builder of the new rover, told
Business Insider that it's a six-wheeled, all-electric vehicle
that was created "with every intention" of overcoming obstacles
on the sandy, rocky red planet.

However, the unnamed rover will never roll across Mars. Instead,
says Parker, it's going on a cross-country tour as part of an
educational event called "Summer of Mars"
that's co-branded with NASA.

Led by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex — which is owned
by NASA but operated by a private contractor and works closely
with the space agency, yet is not taxpayer-funded — the program
aims to inspire the public about space exploration and
interplanetary travel, especially regarding NASA's
mandate to reach Mars by 2033.

Marc and his brother, Shanon Parker, began building the rover
around November 2016, shortly after their company, Parker
Brothers Concepts, was approached with the idea. Marc says that
he and Shanon launched their business about five years ago to
build "outlandish" vehicles for television and movie productions.
("We're the guys they call when everyone else says 'it can't be
done,'" Marc says.)

But Marc says NASA did not fund the rover, whose cost he wouldn't
provide, and that it was bankrolled by a private company involved
in the project.

"We're also filming for a reality television series that's going
to be coming out about this build," Marc told Business Insider.
While he's under a non-disclosure agreement with the TV network,
Marc says it's "one of the bigger cable networks." (An Instagram photo
shared on Shanon's account shows members of the "Mythbusters" TV
shows, which airs on the Discovery Channel.)

Inside the Mars rover prototype

Parker Brother Concepts made the rover from scratch from about
November 2016 through early April 2017.

The two owners and a few of their employees, plus a number of
suppliers they deal with, worked tirelessly on its construction
for those few months.

"Me and the guys, we averaged about 80 to 100 hours a week, each.
We worked 10-, 12-, 14-hour days, seven days a week since late
last year," Marc says. "If I thought about how many hours we put
into this thing, I'd probably cry. It's way too many."

Marc said a formal announcement of the rover and TV show is
forthcoming. However, he and Shanon have posted several teaser
images and videos on their Instagram accounts.

The above clip, posted to Instagram by SeaDek (a marine product
supplier that worked on the rover with Parker Brother Concepts),
shows the interior of the vehicle.

A second video, below, provides another view inside the rover
when it's lit up in the dark:

A faux research rover built for Mars

A NASA spokesperson told Business Insider that the project "is
not really a NASA-affiliated thing" and is run by its
independently operated Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
(Representatives at the visitor complex did not immediately
return our calls.)

However, Marc Parker said NASA introduced his company to
engineers and scientists at Kennedy Space Center who are actively
working on the space agency's goals of exploring Mars with
astronauts.

According to Marc, NASA gave his company a few parameters for the
vehicle and had two schools of thought for it: either a small
scout vehicle "for four astronauts to investigate, explore, and
get test samples" or a "full research laboratory".

The company started with an electric motor, solar panels, and a
700-volt battery and built the vehicle around that, Marc says,
"since there's no gas stations up there" — and decided to tackle
both concepts at once.

"What we actually came up with was a dual-purpose vehicle. It
actually separates in the middle. The rear section is a full lab,
the front area is a cockpit for going out and doing scouting," he
says. "The lab section can actually disconnect ... and be left on
its own to do autonomous research. That way the scout vehicle can
go out to do its thing without the fuel consumption and extra
weight, then come back later."

While the cab is lined with earthly "creature comforts" such as
GPS, air conditioning, and radio, Marc says the body is made
entirely out of aircraft-grade aluminum and carbon-fiber to keep
the weight down.

He says it hasn't been officially weighed, but estimated the
rover — which is 28 feet long, 13 feet wide, and 11 feet tall —
should come in at about 5,000 pounds.

"A Honda Civic weighs about 3,500 to 4,000 pounds, and a 5,000
pounds is about the weight of a pickup truck," he said,
emphasizing that the concept vehicle is very light given its size
and capabilities.

Marc says that while the rover could drive as fast as 60-70 mph,
it's designed to roll along at 10-15 mph or less, since it'd be
used to methodically roll over dunes, rocks, craters, hills, and
more. He added that each wheel has an independent suspension to
overcome such obstacles with ease.

Of all the projects that Marc says he and his brother have worked
on, he said "this one has blown us away the most." He hopes it
inspires NASA and the public alike to dream big about the future
of space exploration.

"Movies are cool, TV is cool, but it's something else to be part
of a thing that could inspire kids to go Mars and live in outer
space," he says.

This story was updated to clarify the relationship between
NASA and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.